Post navigation

This Youtube video shows an excerpt of the performance Genderosity, designed by performer Donald C. Shorter Jr as a ‘multimedia theatrical experience that takes you through the process of drag transformation’ . (Clarke, 2014).

Drawing inspiration both from legendary gender non-conforming artists Grace Jones, David Bowie and from the iconic film Mommie Dearest (1981) , Shorter Jr. explores gender identity through the medium of embodying a female persona (Francesca).

This project was created during a residency at the Pompidou Centre in Paris together with a video artist as an outcome of his workshops on transformation.

Genderosity resonates with my project as it was mainly inspired by Butler’s theory of gender performativity and by the dominant role that Leigh Bowery had in shaping club kids culture: the process of discovering the self embodied by the artist is clearly expressed by the continuous shift between the male and female identity during the show.

That’s an excerpt of the artist taking about his inspiration for the project:

‘I also really started to look at the writings of Judith Butler. You know, she raises questions of what is gender and discusses how gender is performed. I kind of took the idea of taking drag performance as a way to talk about gender performance. So, I put together all of these different ideas and concepts, and I really started to breakdown a way to talk about not conforming to societal gender norms and how that’s affected my life.’